North Korea’s steady steps toward nuclear weaponry
Produced by Beatriz Beiras



SEOUL: -- When Kim Jong Un’s father Kim Jong Il died in 2011, his dynastic inheritance of the presidential role came backed by North Korea’s atomic weapons programme, whose scientists had managed test detonations in 2006 and 2009, incurring UN Security Council mandated sanctions.

The new supreme leader soon disillusioned anyone who expected a more pragmatic or conciliatory approach to dealings with the rest of the world. He pursued nuclear bomb-making efforts and at the same time the development of ballistic missile technology which Pyongyang had started in 1998.

A moratorium on the uranium enrichment programme was announced early in 2012 but in December the North Koreans launched a
satellite into orbit on the expendable Unha-3 carrier rocket. The Security Council slapped on new sanctions, considering this a violation of a ban on North Korean missile testing.

A February, 2013 third detonation at North Korea’s only known nuclear test site Punggye-ri showed how far the internationally isolated military state was prepared to ignore that. According to the United States Geological Survey the test registered as a 5.1 magnitude earthquake.

In May 2015 the North Koreans claimed to have successfully fired their first ballistic missile from a submarine. Sceptics cast doubt on this, but if it is true it would mean a worrying boost in Pyongyang’s delivery range. On top of this, it claims to have the capacity to mount mini-atomic weapons in its missile warheads.


-- (c) Copyright Euronews 2016-01-07

I note with regret the prevailing wind from N Korea blows directly towards Thailand in this season. At least it has taken the spotlight off Fukushima which was getting a bit long in the tooth.

The article seems oblivious to recent news, which is odd as an honest Republican.

The N Koreans just detonated a small hydrogen weapon (and, yes, seismic detectors can tell what type of weapon it was by the frequency and duration of the vibrations, a hydrogen weapon is three distinct explosions, whereas a fission bomb is one).

When something is not included in a story, something important, my eyebrows always go up.

It's pretty obvious various nations will develop nuclear strike capabilities in the future, just a matter of time. Just as somebody actually using one. All you can do is delay and duck&cover.

I know the minute you send an army of chihuahuas, the NK army will give up. They are starving over there. Just sayin'.

They must be running short of supplies again time to blackmail the West into providing food/oil for the masses again and tell the masses this is the fruit of their cultural revolution. China will again do nothing because if North Korea collapses South Korea would step in and pick up the pieces and say to China "I'm your new neighbor" China does have claustrophobia and is land locked to a certain extent thus their desire to turn the Spratlys into a naval base.